‘What happened between 8:00 a.m. [and] 1:00 p.m. is unknown because we were not given advance notice,’ said DeKalb County GOP Chairwoman Marci McCarthy. //

“These acceptances of absentee ballots were being done outside of the purview of legal observers without notification,” McCarthy said. “Nobody was watching these absentee ballots come in as prescribed by law because we had no advance notice.” //

Cobb County also extended its absentee ballot drop-off time period. Cobb County Republican Party Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs told The Federalist she was not notified about the change and was likewise caught off guard.

anon-o7jd
3 hours ago
The only reason for wanting to bar ANY, poll watcher is to facilitate cheating.
The only reason for wanting to extend ballot casting after the legal date/time is to facilitate cheating.

Change my mind. //

GeorgiaGuy
4 hours ago
The Democrats have been learning too. What Have they learned? If there are no consequences why not cheat? //

bocmatt
4 hours ago
And what was the penalty on the officials who blocked GOP watchers? And what damage was done before they obtained their lawful access?

“Our nation’s brave men and women in uniform brought to our attention that there has been inadequate education at the administrative level on how to register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and fill in a federal write-in absentee ballot if their state-issued ballot does not arrive in time," the letter continues.

“Other service members also stated that when a request for a federal write-in absentee ballot was made, they were told the base’s stockpile of such ballots was depleted and had not been replenished."

[Abraham Lincoln] helped fell trees to build a large river raft to carry farm goods down a local river and then the treacherous Mississippi to New Orleans. There, they took the raft apart and sold the logs to build houses in the first bustling big city the future president had ever seen.

Lincoln then walked the nearly 800 miles back to central Illinois. //

The 1860 presidential election has always seemed like a political presidential watershed to me. //

That was the first national confrontation between the two major parties that have shaped American politics ever since and endure today. That's because their ideologies and platforms have been – shall we say – malleable, adapting adeptly to society's changing times, interests, and priorities and starving third parties of lasting issues.

The Republican Party was created in Wisconsin in 1854 around the dominant issue of the day, slavery. In its first presidential contest, the anti-slavery GOP carried the day with Abraham Lincoln as nominee. //

When slavery split Democrats into northern and southern wings in 1860, that election became a four-way race. The northern Democrat was old friend Illinois Sen. Stephen Douglas, who fared the worst.

There were 33 states then. Douglas won one of them, Arkansas. Lincoln needed 152 electoral votes. He got 180 from 18 states with only 39.7 percent of the splintered popular vote.

Welcome to the White House, Mr. President. Until 1933, Inauguration Days back then were in March. By March of 1861, seven states had seceded. Five weeks later, Confederates started the Civil War in South Carolina.

In 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all enslaved people in the South.

As an attempt to begin national healing, for his 1864 reelection, Lincoln chose as his vice-presidential running mate a southern Democrat, Sen. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.

That’s the only time a U.S. political party has nominated a bipartisan national ticket. It worked for the election. But not so well after, when GOP Congress met Democrat president. Post-presidency, Johnson became the only president to later serve in the Senate.

Lincoln’s second inauguration came outside the Capitol with John Wilkes Booth reportedly watching from nearby. Like much of what the self-educated Lincoln wrote, the speech was full of humanity, grace, and humility, and far shorter than today's wordy promise agendas salted with calculated applause lines:

With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds…

The ensuing celebration lacked Lincoln’s favorite food, chicken fricassee. But the 250-foot-long buffet table was laden with veal, venison, quail, oyster stew, and six flavors of ice cream, including Lincoln’s favorite, vanilla.

Twenty-five days later, the Civil War ended as the deadliest conflict still in U.S. history.

Thirty days after that inauguration, the Lincolns went to a play at Ford’s Theater. It was Good Friday.

Allegedly to see the performance better, the president’s bodyguard, John Parker, left his post outside the Lincolns' box. But he wound up in a nearby saloon.

Confederate sympathizer Booth had no trouble sneaking in behind the president with his .44 Derringer. The bullet entered the left side of Lincoln’s head, passed through the brain, lodging just behind the right eye.

The 56-year-old president, who had maintained the Union but would lose three of his four sons to illness, never regained consciousness and died the next morning.

(In a bizarre twist, Lincoln's eternal rest was interrupted 12 years later by a band of grave robbers who successfully absconded with the presidential corpse for some weeks, seeking ransom for the kidnapped body. Which explains why Abraham Lincoln now rests in a Springfield memorial in a coffin sealed within two tons of cement and steel.)

On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. This past Sunday, many congregations celebrated this event as a catalyst for the way the Reformed faith [Protestant church] came to be and continues to understand its calling. //

Whatever your faith, spiritual practice, or however you phrase it, the next step after voting is praying: for our nation, for the safety of former President Trump and JD Vance and their families, and yes, as I have said before, pray for the other side, including President Joe Biden.

But I'm going to go further: Pray for Kamala Harris to hear God's Word, to truly repent the evil she has pushed to prosper in our nation through politics. And ask God to protect her, her running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), and all of their loved ones.

Part three of an investigation into how the Harris-Walz campaign is manipulating social media sites to artificially boost their popularity, spread election disinformation, and skirt election laws. //

But one activity I found on the Discord server was particularly concerning. After years of Democrats erroneously insisting that Donald Trump had colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election and otherwise warning of foreign election manipulation, the Harris-Walz campaign is actively recruiting foreigners to work on the campaign and is even encouraging them to donate to American political causes.

There appears to be no vetting, and given that the Harris-Walz campaign’s Discord community overtly engaged in disinformation campaigns, it was ripe for infiltration and abuse by foreign intelligence and other bad actors attempting to influence the election — although I saw no concrete proof of that. //

The Harris-Walz staff are clearly teaching foreigners how to skirt FEC regulations. This may not be illegal, but it is enticing foreign nationals to influence American elections — something that Democrats have spent years warning is a serious threat to democracy.

Whether this directly violates election laws is also beside the point for many Americans, who believe foreign nationals should not be allowed to volunteer for U.S. presidential campaigns. American elections should be for Americans, and the Harris-Walz campaign is actively inviting foreign influences into their campaign.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office posted passwords to statewide voting systems online for anyone to access. The Colorado Republican Party, which uncovered the security breach, is seeking accountability.

The office of Democrat Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who tried but failed to kick former President Donald Trump off the ballot, posted an Excel file online with a “hidden” page of 600 passwords to voting systems in every county but one, according to an email the Colorado GOP sent on Tuesday. Anyone could “unhide” the page and view the passwords.

On Wednesday, the Colorado GOP said it is seeking “legal relief in the courts” and calling on state lawmakers for an emergency audit, saying Griswold engaged in a “cover-up.” Colorado voting is already underway, according to the secretary’s website, with more than 1.27 million votes already cast.

“This does not pose an immediate security threat to Colorado’s elections, nor will it impact how ballots are counted,” Griswold’s office claimed in a press release. //

Just last week, Griswold held a press conference about voter fraud in Mesa County, according to KUSA. There, she claimed there was “no reason to believe that there are any security breaches or compromises in the state of Colorado.”

Part two of an investigation into how the Harris-Walz campaign is manipulating social media sites to artificially boost their popularity, spread election disinformation, and skirt election laws. //

In part one of this investigation into how Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is deceptively manipulating online platforms, it was revealed that the campaign is operating a Discord server that directs hordes of volunteers to use their social media accounts to deceptively push election propaganda.

The goal is to artificially manufacture consensus by making pro-Kamala Harris messages on social media appear more popular than they are, and it is often done in violation of the Terms of Service of the social media platforms. In more extreme cases, they are encouraging people to skirt election laws and using these “astroturfing” campaigns to spread disinformation they think will help win the upcoming election.

Yesterday’s report documented how the Harris-Walz campaign has seen great success in manipulating Reddit’s algorithm, but that isn’t the only social media site they’re manipulating. The campaign has also been targeting Elon Musk’s X, perhaps the most influential site for political news. One particular goal, according to a user of the Harris-Walz campaign Discord server, is to get campaign volunteers to swarm the site and “block [community notes] we don’t like.”

DUTCHESS COUNTY, New York — “I’m sorry sir, but you already voted.”

“No I didn’t,” 55-year-old Mike Miner told a Wappingers Falls election worker on Sunday — yet that’s not what election records showed.

Miner told The Federalist that he decided to vote early, just one day after early voting began on Saturday.

“I went up to the table and was told I already voted,” Miner said. “I ask, ‘Where did I vote?’ Because, of course, this is very surprising to me. And they told me I voted in the town of Fishkill [which is located next to Wappingers], 22 minutes after early voting began on Saturday.”

Miner was given an affidavit ballot, which is a provisional ballot that is secured inside an affidavit envelope. A bipartisan team at the Dutchess County Board of Elections investigated the situation and determined that since the signature provided Saturday did not match Miner’s actual signature, Miner’s affidavit ballot will count — but so will the fraudulent vote cast Saturday in Miner’s name. That’s because once a ballot is cast, the vote itself becomes anonymous, making it impossible to identify the fraudulent vote and remove it from the bunch. //

But Miner says it’s “ridiculous” that a system — which is supposedly “secure,” according to Haight — doesn’t require ID to vote, which could have prevented the fraudulent vote from being cast.

“You don’t have to show ID to vote, I think it’s ridiculous — anyone can walk in, just as what happened to me, and say ‘I’m so and so’ and vote. So I don’t believe the system is safe right now,” Miner said. “And I know I’m only one vote, but I have the right to vote and my vote should count. Someone shouldn’t steal your vote and that be able to count. I don’t know the outcome of that vote — what if it was opposite of what I voted? Then it cancels my vote out.”

But Miner’s situation could have been avoided if New York wanted to have an ounce of integrity in their elections. The Empire State is one of 14 states that do not require voters to show ID in order to vote.

CommonSenseElections/StopBogusBallots.com’s recent analysis discovered mail-in ballot requests from—among others—the following active “voters.” They are registered at suspicious addresses in Wisconsin within these categories of doubt: //

These anomalies alone (and there are others) affect 30,084 mail-in ballot requests associated with unqualified, possibly illegal addresses in Wisconsin.

In an extensive interview with The New York Times published on Saturday morning, Fetterman opened up about the state of the presidential race in his key battleground state, referring to voter support for Trump as "astonishing," and even suggesting that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's endorsement of the former president is "going to really matter":

There’s a difference between not understanding, but also acknowledging that it exists. And anybody who spends time driving around, and you can see the intensity. It’s astonishing. I was doing an event in Indiana [Pa.] County. Very, very red. And there was a superstore of Trump stuff, and it was a hundred feet long.

[There were] dozens of T-shirts and hats and bumper stickers and all kinds of, I mean, it’s like, 'Where does this all come from?' It’s the kind of thing that has taken on its own life. And it’s like something very special exists there. And that doesn’t mean that I admire it. It’s just — it’s real.

Admire it or not, the often mercurial Democrat has the honesty to admit what he sees. And what he sees is Pennsylvania voters enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump like no presidential candidate in recent state history. //

Fetterman said he was "alarmed" when Musk began showing up on the campaign trail for Trump, and added he's a "bigger star than Trump" in "some sense." //

OrphanedRepublican
5 hours ago
I think Elon Musk is a big "star" for doing more to restore free speech than any politician.

It wasnt me OrphanedRepublican
5 hours ago
My hero this season is Scott Presler, @thepersistence.

He has been working signing up the Amish. 220,000 Amish went through the challenges of getting their first State ID's and then registering to vote.

It is difficult to poll people without telephones 📞. They had to get dispensation to allow for photographs on their ID's.

I was surprised at the traffic lineup as I approached the exit ramp for the road where the office is located. I figured it was construction, but the longer we sat, I thought it must be an accident. It was neither. It was the line of cars waiting to enter the parking lot of the Election Board. I waited in line in my car for 55 minutes just to park. Another 20 minutes in line to get my ballot.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, a – wait for it – Joe Biden appointee, ordered that 1,600 of those 6,000 names removed in August be put back on the voter rolls, saying the names were illegally removed too close to the election. The usual suspects are behind all of this:

Advocacy groups that sued — the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, the League of Women Voters of Virginia and others – said that data shared by the state for the case shows more than 1,600 people had their voter registrations canceled under the program during the quiet period.

Glenn Youngkin hit back hard at the "stunning" and blatantly political move: //

123FJB
10 hours ago
Put them back on the voter rolls and then put out a statement that those individuals will be arrested upon confirmation of their casting a ballot. //

Bobby Cheeky
10 hours ago
Reinstatement is a complicated process, and could take a few weeks! It probably can't happen until November 6.

Just play this corrupt judge like a fool, Gov. Youngkin, because that's exactly what they're trying to do you and the voters of VA. //
anon-v5qh
10 hours ago edited
Remember when the supreme court ordered PA to segregate and control the disputed ballots prior to the election in 2020? They of course ignored the order, counted the ballots and then mixed them in with the others so they couldn't be audited or identified. Oops, just another happy accident. Can't fix it.

VA should follow their law and let the activist judge twist in the wind here. This kind of ruling where the laws must not be enforced so you have to allow criminal acts is typical of the liberal judges with agendas (border law anyone? catch and release was a court ruling not a written law).

As we've learned over the years watching tight presidential races, each state holds its own election and has its own set of rules as to how it is administered. This makes for some stark differences in, for instance, deadlines set by states for accepting absentee or mail-in ballots. Mississippi allows ballot receipt up to five days after Election Day.

Until now, that is. On Friday afternoon, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision holding that ballots must be both cast and received by Election Day and that Mississippi's law is preempted by federal law. //

The State’s problem is that it thinks a ballot can be “cast” before it is received. What if a State changes its law to allow voters to mark their ballots and place them in a drawer? Or what if a State allowed a voter to mark a ballot and then post a picture on social media? The hypotheticals are obviously absurd. But it should be equally obvious that a ballot is “cast” when the State takes custody of it. //

That is not to say all the ballots must be counted on Election Day. Even if the ballots have not been counted, the result is fixed when all of the ballots are received and the proverbial ballot box is closed. The selections are done and final. By contrast, while election officials are still receiving ballots, the election is ongoing: The result is not yet fixed, because live ballots are still being received. Although a single voter has made his final selection upon marking his ballot, the entire polity must do so for the overall election to conclude. So the election concludes when the final ballots are received and the electorate, not the individual selector, has chosen. //

In January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, only 14 States and the District of Columbia accepted ballots postmarked by Election Day—with the other 36 requiring receipt on or before that date. //

As Justice Kavanaugh recently emphasized: “To state the obvious, a State cannot conduct an election without deadlines . . . A deadline is not unconstitutional merely because of voters' own failures to take timely steps to ensure their franchise.” //

Federal law requires voters to take timely steps to vote by Election Day. And federal law does not permit the State of Mississippi to extend the period for voting by one day, five days, or 100 days. The State’s contrary law is preempted. //

Tech in RL
3 hours ago edited
If this is such a Constitutional question, why did the Fifth Circuit limit its ruling to just the states under its jurisdiction when we know a single judge can make a ruling that covers the entire country? I’m rather surprised the RNC didn’t push the Fifth Circuit court to apply its ruling nationally since that ruling isn’t all that useful when not applied uniformly across the nation.

If the Democrats were wise, they wouldn’t appeal this ruling since it only really applies to one deep red state. If this goes to the Supreme Court and the High Court affirms the Fifth Circuit ruling, then it would apply nationally.

Pennsylvania is thought by many to be the key to the race. One of the seven swing states, the Keystone State's 19 electoral votes are critical, and the presidential candidates are scrapping and clawing for them. Not only is voter turnout key, but so is voter registration. And so we've witnessed an amazing amount of effort being put into the registration ground game this election cycle — with some positive results for the GOP. In 2020, there were 4,228,888 registered Democrats and 3,543,070 registered Republicans for the November election. As of October 21, 2024 (the last day for registering in Pennsylvania), there were 3,971,607 registered Democrats and 3,673,783 registered Republicans. Thus, Democrats have lost ground while Republicans have gained it. //

Late Friday morning, news broke that election officials in Lancaster County had discovered potential voter registration fraud implicating as many as 2,500 registrations.

There’s going to be a presidential election in a couple weeks, but few think that we’ll know for sure the next president on November 5—what used to be known, quaintly, as “Election Day.”

Most likely, it’s going to be weeks, maybe even months, before we see a victor. And here’s a prediction: The Sturm und Drang will come in five phases: litigation, negotiation, discreditation, devolution, and then, monetization. I can explain.

According to President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, it is now a federal crime to prevent illegal ballots in presidential elections.

Barely 30 days before the 2024 election, the Justice Department sued the state of Virginia to prohibit its removal of the names of noncitizens from voting rolls. //

The Virginia lawsuit is simply the latest in Democrats’ long war against honest voting, which began with the Clinton administration’s Motor Voter Act. That 1993 law mandated voter registration in every welfare and food-stamp office in the nation. Brent Thompson, executive director of the Fair Government Foundation, observed in 1996, “The Motor Voter law did away with a panoply of anti-fraud mechanisms long relied on by the states to police and deter fraudulent voting.”

In 2015, the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton condemned voter identification requirements as part of a “sweeping effort to disempower and disenfranchise people of color, poor people and young people.” //

But the panic induced by Covid-19 enabled politicians to radically loosen the rules for the next presidential election. Many states made it easier—if not automatic—to vote by mail, even though a 2012 New York Times analysis concluded that “fraud in voting by mail is… vastly more prevalent than the in-person voting fraud that has attracted far more attention.” Some states abandoned any effort to verify mail ballots, dropping requirements for matching signatures, return addresses, or having a witness verify the person and the vote. Civil Rights Commissioner J. Christian Adams noted that “Democrats succeeded in tossing out state laws related to absentee ballot verification, deadlines and a whole range of laws all in the name of Covid.” //

A week after Election Day, the New York Times ran a banner headline across the top of the front page: “Election Officials Nationwide Find No Fraud.” How did the Times know? Their reporters basically called election officials in each state and asked, “Did y’all have any fraud?” A total lack of fraud in an election with more than 100 million voters would have required divine intervention to achieve. Biden’s 2020 victory became the election equivalent of the Immaculate Conception. //

Preventing bogus ballots should not be treated like a moral or theological issue. When did verifying votes become a crime against democracy? Why is the Justice Department crusading to turn voting into an entitlement program for non-citizens? Do Democrats seek to make the actual voting as fraud-ridden as politicians’ campaign promises? Elections need rigorous safeguards against fraud because, as Thomas Paine warned long ago, “the trade of governing has always been monopolized by… the most rascally individuals of mankind.” Four presidential elections since 2000 have been heavily tainted by allegations of foul play. American democracy has zero legitimacy to spare at this point.

Democrats and the Left are silent in light of actual voter suppression that happened in the 2022 election, when many Pennsylvanians in Luzerne County showed up to vote in the morning, only to be told there were no more paper ballots available to cast their votes.

At least 40 polling places did not have the minimum number of ballots required by state law. When paper ballots ran out shortly after voting began, election officials and poll workers directed voters to come back later. //

The very simple matter of providing enough paper for ballots apparently fell by the wayside, resulting in disenfranchised voters in a swing state and a potential swing county.

Where was Biden to cry voter suppression? Where was the Democrats’ unlimited dark money-funded election law consigliere, Marc Elias, to file a case? The fact is the Left and Democrats did not care, as most of the affected voters in Luzerne County were Republicans. //

The lawsuit was necessary because the problems of Luzerne County are not a one-off for Election Day ballot shortages. Similar “voting irregularities” occurred during the gubernatorial races in New Jersey in 2021 and Mississippi in 2023. In both cases, it was Republican voters who were impacted. //

Because of CEC’s legal victory in Luzerne County, counties and elections authorities are on notice that they will literally pay the price if they suppress votes. But don’t expect Democrats to care when it is not their voters who are being suppressed.

So, what are Democrats doing now in light of election officials’ errors like those in Luzerne? Literally the same night the Luzerne County Council approved the settlement and admitted they suppressed votes, a liberal group parroted the Democrats and Left, calling for a new local ordinance to protect election officials from criticism.

As a county in the most targeted state in the 2024 election, Luzerne serves as a microcosm for the country.

The Left cries “voter suppression” as a political talking point but ignores real voter suppression when it doesn’t suit their interests. They don’t try to make the process more transparent, but instead try to make it impossible to critique election officials and improve the process. //

It wasnt me
2 hours ago
When Legislators make laws that I might break, like Window Tint, it comes with fines that if I don't pay I can go to prison or be shot during my arrest.

When Legislators make laws government employees may break intentionally, there is no penalty to the perpetrator.

How about if there are no Ballots, I get to fire a Taser at the Precinct Captain? Do you think 🤔 they would forget to have the required Ballots? //

Today, Politico, following on its improbable claim that Trump is eluding the media by holding rallies and cooking fries at Mcdonald's (see EPIC: Trump Trolls Kamala in Hilarious Move As He Works Fries, Drive-Thru Window at McDonald's) by claiming he has a way to seize power even if he loses on Election Day...or whenever Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin finally get around to counting their votes: The Very Real Scenario Where Trump Loses and Takes Power Anyway - POLITICO.

In the words of Donald Rumsfeld, they start with "an illogical premise and proceeding perfectly logically to an illogical conclusion." //

So, a Trump who has less power today than he had in 2020 and in a legal environment that has foreclosed some avenues that could have been exploited last time around is more likely to try to overthrow the election results. With this assertion, Donald Trump officially has achieved Super Villain status. //

An overwhelming Harris victory would make it harder for Trump to rally Republicans to his side. (If Trump wins, no one expects a comparable effort by Democrats to subvert the election.) //

The article goes on to spin a tale that would make Tom Clancy proud. All of it is predicated on two improbable events. First and foremost, the idea that a twice-defeated Trump has enough clout in state legislatures to convince them to contravene state law and just flip the electoral votes to Trump is, bluntly, both dishonest and quite possibly stupid as well. Second, the idea that a Republican House majority that literally can't pass a single budget bill has the unity to change the rules of certifying electors requires a level of dimwittery rarely witnessed, even among political journalists.

They have no concern about Kamala Harris, who serves as the presiding officer for the joint session of Congress that will elect the president, having an unresolvable conflict of interest in both corrupting the process and outcome and engaging in shenanigans of her own. //

anon-n4c1
4 hours ago
It's all projection. The DemoCommies just assume that their opponents are as corrupt and malicious as they are. Anything and everything they accuse Trump of, they have already done or they are planning to do themselves.

On a desolate slab of island tundra in western Alaska, a resident of Adak will again become the last American to cast an in-person ballot for president, continuing a 12-year tradition for the nation’s westernmost community.

The honor of having the last voter in the nation fell to Adak when they did away with absentee-only voting for the 2012 election and added in-person voting.

“People have a little bit of fun on that day because, I mean, realistically everybody knows the election’s decided way before we’re closed,” said city manager Layton Lockett. “But, you know, it’s still fun.”

When polls close in Adak, it’s 1 a.m. on the East Coast.

The United States is a big place. Roughly 3,000 miles separate the lower 48's east and west coasts - and roughly 3,000 miles separate the easternmost part of Alaska's panhandle, where Sitka and Juneau are found as well as Hyder, the easternmost settlement in Alaska, and the Aleutian island of Adak.

Note that there are U.S. possessions farther west than Adak, but while the people who live there are American citizens, they, like Puerto Ricans, don't vote for president: